The starting point will be the import of painted wares of the Middle Bronze Age culture in the Levant to Tell el-Dab'a in Egypt. From this site a collection of especially Levantine Painted Ware has been of importance in fixing the date of the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age and the various examples of types will be presented. Of further interest in the present forum is the development that will be claimed in the styles of this and other types of painted pottery of the period as shown from the Tell el-Dab'a material compared to parallels from the Levant.

A definition of the three main styles of painted pottery of the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, being Levantine Painted Ware (LPW), Khabur Ware and Syro/Cilician (or Amuq/Cilician) Ware will be proposed. All three styles will be shown to be related and a clear-cut dichotomy between especially Khabur Ware and Syro/Cilician does not hold up and certain parts of the definition of LPW also fit with the other styles and vice versa - although all three main styles, as well as their proposed sub-styles, have their specific characteristics. How they interrelate and how the areas of distribution are overlapping will be shown and the implications for questions concerning chronological issues will be put forward.